


Spanning the Gap

by llaras



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-18
Updated: 2010-11-18
Packaged: 2017-10-13 06:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/134131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llaras/pseuds/llaras
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Preparations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spanning the Gap

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the "A Picture is Worth 1000 Words" challenge at [](http://community.livejournal.com/picfor1000/profile)[**picfor1000**](http://community.livejournal.com/picfor1000/). Thanks to [](http://slodwick.livejournal.com/profile)[**slodwick**](http://slodwick.livejournal.com/) for the challenge and to [](http://finitejester37.livejournal.com/profile)[**finitejester37**](http://finitejester37.livejournal.com/) for the beta and encouragement. The challenge was to write a fic based on the picture provided, 1000 words exactly and the number three had to be incorporated somehow into the story. Hope you enjoy!

The arch was big. Bigger than he thought it would be. Hermione said it didn't matter which one they used for the spell, it just had to have three passageways. One for each of them. She chose this one because it was as far away as they could get in the time they had.

He circled it a few times, mindful of the Muggle tourists and their cameras. One couple asked him to take a picture of them posed in front of the monument, but he didn't know how to work the device they handed him, so he just hit the biggest button and hoped for the best.

Draco murmured something about barbarians before meandering off to Merlin-knows-where, but Ron didn't know if he was talking about the decorations on the arch or the hordes of people milling about. It could be either or both. Or neither for all Ron knew. Draco agreed to help them when Harry disappeared six months ago, but despite all the time they've spent together researching and preparing, Ron still didn't know him any better than he did before.

Once the sun reached mid-sky he headed back to the hotel and Hermione. Two days left.

*********

Draco had a necklace made of human teeth. He usually kept it hidden under his shirt, but every now and again it would slip out without him noticing.

Ron wondered whose teeth they were.

They each had a list. Items that had to be procured, tasks that had to be completed. Hermione divided up the more than thirty things required for the spell between the three of them. Ron wasn't sure what was on the other lists. His had things like white roses, marmalade and leeches. And something called a hookah. He still didn't understand what the difference was between a hookah and the thing Seamus had hidden in his trunk during sixth year. They were both used to smoke things, weren't they?

The tasks were harder. He had to fast for a solid week and learn a hymn in Latin. He had to locate an aquifer and perform a ritual of contemplation, naked and covered with lard. The last one he thought for sure was a joke, but Hermione assured him it wasn't. And she promised him it wasn't the most embarrassing or peculiar of the tasks that needed to be performed. And then she blushed.

Very interesting, that.

*********

He found out what she meant the night before the spell.

Supper was a quiet affair. Hermione was sanguine at first, but her cheerfulness didn't catch on with Ron or Draco, and after a while she just stopped trying.

Draco was busy chasing an elusive pea around his plate, totally oblivious, which made Ron stare because it was so out of character.

"I'm going up."

He pushed away from the table as graciously as he could, trying not to show how distressed he was. Everything hinged on the success of what they were going to attempt in the morning and he was seriously starting to doubt it would do anything at all, much less bring Harry back to them.

"Wait. Ron?" Hermione threw the piece of bread she'd been fiddling with down on the table and jumped up after him. "There are some last minute..." She glanced over at Draco who was still engrossed in the remains of his meal and whispered so only he could hear, "preparations."

Ron raised his eyebrows in enquiry.

She gave him her best exasperated look. "Just meet me up in my room," she glanced at her watch, "in two hours?"

Of course he agreed.

*********

He got tired of pacing around his room after an hour and a half. All he could think about was home. And Harry. So he set off to see Hermione a bit early.

Obviously she wasn't expecting that, as she met him at the door clad only in a towel, her hair hanging wet and long over her shoulders. But she just motioned him in quickly.

"I know I'm early." He walked over to her window and tried to admire the view, giving her some time to get a robe or something to cover up with.

"It's fine, Ron. Listen, we don't have time, so I'm just going to tell you what we need to do."

He turned around. She was still wearing only the towel. "Oh no, Hermione. Don't tell me we have to be naked!" he pleaded. And please, _please_ , no lard, he thought to himself.

"Yes. That's precisely it." She couldn't meet his eyes. "Will you just let me finish?" She took a deep breath. "One of the requirements for the spell is that all of us, that is to say, none of us, can be..." She stopped short and gave him a meaningful look instead.

Merlin.

*********

"Okay, now move that one," Hermione directed Draco. "They have to be perpendicular. No," she humphed and moved in to correct the placement, "like this."

Draco gave up and walked over to Ron, who was holding the torch. It was really dark at four in the morning.

Ron suddenly realized that Draco was standing rather close. "What?" was all he was able to get out before he was grabbed and pulled by his wool scarf. Draco kept a firm grip on him, eyes searching, measuring. And then Ron was being thoroughly kissed by his childhood enemy.

"Draco!" Hermione hissed. "What are you doing?"

He pulled away from Ron slowly after one last lingering swipe of tongue and glanced over at Hermione. "Number seven."

"Oh."

"Don't tell me you want to have sex with me too," Ron managed to gasp out.

"Don't be ridiculous," Draco sneered, but his eyes said something else entirely.

Ron closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. There was no way that Harry could find out about any of this. Especially not that Ron had rather enjoyed it. They were supposed to be exclusive, you know.

"Is it time yet?" Ron managed to squeak out.


End file.
